From: MPetrelis@aol.com Date: Wed, 19 May 1999 14:30:18 EDT Subject: Hirschfeld's Pink Petitions for SF bathhouse ballot For Immediate Release May 19, 1999 Michael Petrelis 415-621-6267 "OPEN BATHS, OPEN MINDS" CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED; VOTERS ASKED TO SIGN PINK PETITIONS FOR INITIATIVE (San Francisco, CA) - A news conference to launch the signature gathering phase for a bathhouse ballot initiative will be held on Thursday, May 20 at 12 noon in the heart of the Castro district, 18th and Castro streets. Signature gathering will go from 12 noon until 2 p.m. The initiative is sponsored by the Magnus Hirschfeld Society, a group dedicated to practicing the sexual liberation teachings of the pioneer German gay leader. "Hopefully, open minded voters will put their John Hancocks on the stylish Pink Petitions. Not that I am a size queen in these matters, but I need 10,500 valid signatures by July 5 to qualify for the ballot in November," said Michael Petrelis, a member of the Magnus Hirschfeld Society. "Signing the Pink Petition equals affixing one's signature to a Declaration of Sexual Independence From Willie Brown's Sex Police. Will gay men rise to the challenge?" "Open Baths, Open Minds" is the slogan for the pressure group. "Our city has given the world the Summer of Love, the annual heterosexual Hooker's Ball, the Folsom Street Fair for leather and S/M enthusiasts, the Beatniks, and Madam Sally Stanford's brothel. Surely, we can find room in our civic heart to allow a modicum of privacy to gay men to safely love each other behind the closed doors of a public bathhouse," Petrelis said. "I am not yet willing to throw in the towel on the seemingly permanent prohibition on bathhouses in San Francisco." The Magnus Hirschfeld Society promotes the man who in 1897 formed the world's first homosexual rights organization, the Scientific Humanitarian Committee. It had three goals: abolish the anti-sodomy statute Paragraph 175 of the penal code, enlighten public attitudes about homosexuals, and interest homosexuals in the struggle for their rights. To achieve the first goal, Hirschfeld's organization garnered thousands of signatures on petitions and presented them to the Reichstag. Hirschfeld's scientific institute was plundered and burned by the Nazis, just before he was forced into exile. He died in France on his birthday. At the May 20 kick-off the group will play Bette Midler and Barry Manilow music to remind voters of where these entertainers got their starts in show biz -- at the baths. The Magnus Hirschfeld Society will also display a safe sex kit consisting of a clean towel, containing anal condoms, penile condoms, lube, and safe sex instructions -- to be given to every patron upon entry at a San Franciscan bathhouse -- should they be reopened. -30-